Bridge

I love bridges. To me, bridges connect shores as two hearts in love. With bridges, the way becomes shorter, and love becomes closer! A bridge is a beautiful engineering piece, and wonderful architectural construction.
This is one that I painted in Acrylic, instead of simply water color, because I wanted to show the ripples on the water better, have richer colors to show the details, and crisper lines.

This Bridge painting is one I painted while in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011

Bird's Houses

I was born in March and I love this season. Nature wakes up and also birds start to build nests for the posterity. I have represented this time in this picture. The picture is of no particular place, just a general spring theme, from anyplace or time.

As I usually do - I sketched out the idea, the area, the Boulevard, trees, benches, grass, birdhouses, etc. Then I chose the base colors and worked my way up, painting in the elements separately from lighter colors to darker colors.

Of course - doing the same scene in acrylic or oils would create a far different look, but with water color - the softer colors lend well in this type of image to an ageless event - Spring!

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011

Three Camellias

Camellias are flowers for Beautiful women.

The Idea to paint this picture came to me, when I saw a nice book about Camellias. The book had wonderful photos, and for my painting I chose one that I liked the best.

I used acrylic on the paper. There are a lot of varieties and colors among Camelias, just see some of them from a Google Images quick search.

There is even an International Camellia Society! According to them, They originate from subtropical regions in China, Japan and neighbouring countries.

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011

Moon Gate

Moon nights are a Magic time...
This Picture is my fantasy. I like to read fairy tales, books, or novels and paint my impression, or imagination, how I see some visions, ideas, or events.

For Example, the Gate of this Castle already hides the horse and messenger riding in to the Castle. The King is awaiting the News - when will his Queen return from her cousins afar. With the fog coming in, he is concerned for her safety as she is late, and will be riding in the dark, but hopes the moon will light her way well enough for her safe return.

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011

Venice

Venice is a city of Dreams.

The Fairy-tale architecture between water and sky...


The city stretches across 118 small islands in the marshy Venetian Lagoon along the Adriatic Sea in northeast Italy. The saltwater lagoon stretches along the shoreline between the mouths of the Po (south) and the Piave (north) Rivers.










The Republic of Venice was a major maritime power during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and a staging area for the Crusades and the Battle of Lepanto, as well as a very important center of commerce (especially silk, grain and spice trade) and art in the 13th century up to the end of the 17th century. Venice is also famous for its musical, particularly operatic, history, and its most famous son in this field is Antonio Vivaldi. This unique city is music from stones and water

I painted a lot of Venice landscape pictures and all of them were sold.

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011

Gold Leaf

Nature and truth are great code of glorious arts.

Autumn leaves are very evocative in their colours - they look warm when it's actually getting cold.

We all enjoy the colors of Autumn leaves. They are very inspiring for painters.

Gold Autumn is allure for the eyes!

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011

Fresco Fantasy Tulips

I like Art Fresco of Ancient Greece. This picture is the imitation of Ancient Greek house wall's fresco genre.

Fresco is the Italian word for "fresh", and that's because painters do fresco painting on fresh, wet plaster walls. That way the colors really sink in to the plaster, and you get a glowing kind of color that is very different from what you would get if you just painted on top of the dry plaster.

People have been doing fresco painting for a long time. The earliest frescoes we know of come from Bronze Age Greece about 1600 BC.

Because my roots are from Greece, I like to use Greek Art genre for my pictures.

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011

Corfu - Old Monastery

Corfu Greece, is the most popular of the Ionian Islands. It is a very green island and a mixture of the civilizations that have passed through at various times.

The island is steeped in history and perennially connected to the history of Greece from the beginning of Greek mythology. Its Greek name, Kerkyra or Korkyra, is connected to two powerful water symbols: Poseidon, god of the sea and Asopos, an important Greek mainland river. According to myth, Poseidon fell in love with the beautiful nymph Korkyra, daughter of Asopus and river nymph Metope, and abducted her, as was the custom among gods of the era's myths – Zeus himself was a serial offender. Poseidon brought her to the hitherto unnamed island and, in marital bliss, offered her name to the place: Korkyra, which gradually evolved to Kerkyra. Together, they had a child they called Phaiax, after whom the inhabitants of the island were named: Phaiakes, which was then transliterated via Latin to Phaeacians.

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011

Harbour

The beginning and ending of an Adventure for Seafarers and their Ships is marked by their arriving or departing the Harbour.

For thousands of years, people have wanted to move on the water. They have used boats and ships to fish, to travel, to explore, to trade or to fight. Throughout the time that people have been building boats and ships, they have made changes to them, to make travelling on the water easier, faster and safer.

And after travelling on the water, Ships return in their native Harbour.

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011

Old Fountain circa 1869

Pic. Size 10"x14" (25,5X35cm)
Beautiful Old Water Source in the Architectural-Ethnographic Complex "Etter" in Bulgarian town Gabrovo. (Oil painting)

Gabrovo is a town in central northern Bulgaria. It is known as an international capital of humour and satire, as well as noted for its Bulgarian National Revival architecture. Gabrovo is also known as the longest town in Bulgaria, stretching over 25 km along the Yantra River, yet reaching only 1 km in width at places. For some images of Gabrovo Click Here.

The citizens of Gabrovo, are notorious for their unique sense of humour. During the second half of 20th century jokes have been largely popularized due to the House of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo. The city is now known as an international capital of humour and satire.

It is said that the people from Gabrovo...

• Cut the tails off of their cats so they can close the door faster when they let the cat out, in order to save heat. The black cat with a cut-off tail has become an enduring symbol of Gabrovo.
• Fit taps to the eggs (as for a keg) to tap as much as they need for a soup and to save the rest;
• Turn their clocks off before they go to sleep to save the wear & tear;
• Put green spectacles on their donkeys so that the donkeys will eat shavings, thinking it's hay;
• When they invite people to tea, they heat the knives so the guests can't take any butter;
• To save money on sweeps, they let a cat down the chimney;
• when something new has only just hit the headlines somewhere, it is already being done in Gabrovo.

Some well known Gabrovo jokes are:

-A citizen of Gabrovo throws a party, but too many people show up! He goes to his neighbour.... "Hi, I've got a big problem! 15 guests showed up but I've only got 10 chairs! Do you have any extras?" "Yes, my kids are away at college, so I've got a couple I'm not using" "That's perfect; I'll send five to your house."

-Why don't people from Gabrovo buy refrigerators? Answer: Because they can't be sure the light goes off when the door's closed.

-Why do people from Gabrovo switch the lamp on and off every now and then when they're reading a book? Answer: To save energy while turning pages.

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011

Fresco Fantasy

My imitation of fresco from Ancient Greek houses.

"In 1967 the ruins of a Bronze Age city were discovered at Akrotiri on the island of Thira, better known as Santorini. They had been preserved beneath the ashes of a volcanic explosion which occurred about 1450 BC. Archaeologists found magnificent frescos; similar in style and content to Cretan paintings. The plant and floral arrangement which appear to have been highly prized and receive their finest expression in the so-called 'Spring fresco'."

TREASURES OF GREECE by Emmanuelle Le Pommelet & Pierre Brunel

I enjoy to use Greek fresco painting style for some of my pictures.

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011

Old Classic Large House

This picture is my imagination and fantasy. I think of this house as The Scientific Geographic Academy Building, circa 1826-1850.

This was painted using a style targeted to be like a book illustration, for supporting a novel with the authors view of a building he bases the story, in part on.

Imagine - if you would: The Professor of History has just arrived and is in a meeting recounting to his esteemed colleagues his adventures, the discoveries he has made, and the treasures he has found while abroad. To his right is the Professor of Architecture, and his many associates, enquiring to learn about Architecture abroad; while on his left are Professors of Science, of Chemistry, and of 'Modern Physics' - hoping to glean some pearls of wisdom from his travels!

The Technique I used in this painting was a blend of water colors for the fills and pen with black indian ink for the hard lines.

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011

Temple by the River

People's life evolves in two environments: under Sky, and under Roof.

Nature helps us to comprehend life's glory. People idealize in the houses themselves, guided by a creative taste, while understanding accommodations, and cosiness.

Celebration, Victory, and Tradition - all experiences best had at a nice location - such as this Temple by the River! The views would be Grand, and the finishings would be Fine - all related to the best of the two environments: Sky and Roof!

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011

Arch in a Pink Wall

Nature surrounding beautiful architecture always looks perfect.

In this picture I used a little bit different technique than usual. I used a lot of extra water, and made the paper wet to flow the colors, and soften them as they spread and blend.

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011

Small Town street

An Old English Small Town street. No particular place, just a general characterization of Old England.

It reminds me of scenes I have seen in Old English Stories, & Movies.

It also reminds me of my childhood, in the Southern Ukraine, growing up in areas of the Black Sea, with structures just about like this too.

England has always been a country of individual houses and well-tended gardens, where privacy and a sense of self-expression are important elements.

Notice the white painted window frames, with the browns and dark browns of the houses walls. Then - in the middle of it all, a green door, beside the neighbors house with a traditional brown door - this was a time of variety, color, and choice, unlike a housing development of today, where all the houses are designed with just one design color scheme, like cans at a factory!

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011

Camellias

Camellias are fantastic! I like to paint flowers while blossoming on the trees, and Camellias are particularily impressive.

Camellias are like music on the tree, just looking at them makes me feel alive!

Always different and various colours, camellias are attractive, with never a repeated style.

This Painting was done using a mix of Water Color and Acrylic, to play with the two mediums together! You can see a lot of pictures of Camellia's here.

If you can think of a more Beautiful and varying flower, please share your thoughts in a comment here.

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011

A New Painting - 'Old Front Door'

Today I just finished a new painting! Today it was with acrylic - but I do like to paint in acrylic, too!

The painting is a view of a typical front door and home with trees, hedges, etc. in the front yard, in my home city - Kerch, Ukraine.

The painting took me two days, working a little in the morning, and a little in the afternoon and evening.

This picture was taken with a lower resolution digital camera in the evening with flash and simple lighting, so it does not look as good as in daylight.

I have some other ideas for paintings in mind I will be posting shortly.

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011

Yellow poppies

This is my new style graphic artwork, done like the Red Poppies - posted below. Notice the differences - the framing is presented angling away from the viewer - closer on the left and farther on the right. It is like the Red Poppies image was rotated away and the Poppies switched to Yellow from Red!

Of course - the framing color was also changed, from Green, to Orange, and my Signature is outside the frame, rather than inside. All subtle things, to be sure, but all added to create a twist on the previous presentation!

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011

Red Poppies

Red poppies are symbol of Love in the Middle Asia.

This picture is in my new style of graphic artwork.

This one was done first with India Ink in the drawing stage, and then the Water Colors were added. This style of painting is good for Illustrating stories in books.

Click here For a Collection of Poppy Images.

Poppies have been one of my favourite flowers since I was a child, in my Native Land. I remember fields in May - with lots of Red Poppies! They looked like a Huge Red Rug!! In combination with Sunbeams, it was a Fairy Tale Landscape!

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011

Poppies in Vase

Flowers give me Great Gladness!!

This is a hybrid of Water Color and India Ink, with the painting being done first, and then the (Black) India Ink being used to define the hard edges, centres, divisions and petals, etc.

This picture also was painted using a lot of water on the paper during the painting, but allowed to dry before the India Ink was applied. I painted it this way because I like the results!

"A poppy is any of a number of colorful flowers, typically with one per stem, belonging to the poppy family. They include a number of attractive wildflower species with colorful flowers found growing singularly or in large groups; many species are also grown in gardens. Those that are grown in gardens include large plants used in a mixed herbaceous border and small plants that are grown in rock or alpine gardens." - Quote from Wikipedia

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011

Bouquet of Roses

This is a small Water Color Painting.

I love to smell the sweet scent of Roses.
Rose is the Queen of flowers. Roses are for Love and Life.

I love this watercolor painting style. The soft "hints" of color in the background: soft greens, yellows, and pinks.

I painted this picture in just 30 - 35 minutes. I was having a good time and it seemed to just flow from my hand and brush. (Maybe I should have set up a camera on me and made a video of that, but I did not think about it, and did not have one at that time, anyway!)

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011

Beach Twin Baron

I like to paint airplanes and the sky. And I like to see the Earth from aloft. Some of my best ideas for painting come when I am flying somewhere and looking at the earth. (When it is a nice flight, anyway - I hate rough flying weather, how about you?)

My husband is a Pilot, and loves to fly smaller aircraft much more than taking a commercial flight, but he is good to hang on to during turbulence, as he understands the flight will be fine! He usually flies single engine aircraft but has flown and started to get his rating for planes with two engines - the 'Multi - Rating' training in a Twin Comanche.

This picture of a Baron was chosen because of I liked it during one of our trips to EAA Oshkosh in the summer. This is a picture I painted for him, for his birthday. This Picture was painted with Acrylic on Canvas, as I wanted something that is a bit more durable, and has a different character about it.

I have posts with other aircraft, if you like. They are:
A Painting I did for my Honey's Birthday, and an Ultralight in Alaska.

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011

White chrysanthemums

I like white colour for painting. It looks like light blossom in spring season.

One day I decided to paint something effective unusual. And I painted white flowers on white background.

It was one of my earliest white on white attempts to see how it would work out.

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011

Rain in a small Canadian town

I like to paint rain landscapes, or 'Rainscapes.'

What could be better than walking a rainy Sunday afternoon with a group of friends, who are passionate about rain! We had a wonderful stroll!

I was impressed with everyone and it was fun to see how I interpret streets in my own unique style.

I had so much fun and hope everyone else enjoyed the afternoon as well.

This is one of the demo paintings I did. It is a quick study on paper with Water colour.

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011

Petunias

More flowers, more Love...

This is a Painting I did rather quickly - in just about 20 minutes, using a style of extra water on the paper to get the soft blended colors.

Petunias are one of the most popular bedding flowers and new types of petunias are constantly being introduced. Most varieties will bloom throughout the summer, except in extreme heat.

For a sampling of images of Petunias on the web, have a look here.

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011

Amazing Watercolour

Watercolour is the most popular painting medium, with its unique delicacy and transparency capable of conjuring up the most fleeting and evanescent effects in nature. The fluidity of watercolour also makes it an exciting and unpredictable medium. For the inexperienced artist this element of uncertainty can be disconcerting at first, butt a timid and cautious approach only results in a weak, dry, overworked painting.

The secret of success with watercolour painting is to work boldly and with confidence. Once you learn to relax and let go of the reins, you will be delighted to find that very often the paint does much of the work for you; sometimes the most interesting and beautiful effects are achieved through a combination of accident and design. Watercolour may be occasionally irritating and frustrating, but it is never boring.

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011

My first Canadian Water Color Painting

I did my first Canadian Water Color Painting in 1996. It was a few Flowers, in an open space - abstract, alone, a reflection of my new life in Canada.

Since then I have had some of my paintings shown in a Gallery in 1999-2000, and sold some at that time. I was impressed with the interest shown, and would have liked to have more of them on show at the time. It warms my heart to know I have reached out to others, and they saw value in my work!

Currently, I have been taking the paintings I have and putting them in frames and using them at home for decoration and display. I have painted scenery, flowers, aircraft, boats, and other things. I like having them in the hallway and living room at home.

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011

My Water Color Paintings beginning

Hi, Welcome to my Blog. It is my first one ever, so please pardon my learning curve as I begin! My Name is Lily, and when I began water color painting - I was a young child of 4 or 5 years old.I thought it was fun, and allowed me to be creative for little cost (Something my parents liked!)

As I grew older I became more interested in painting scenery, people, and other objects. I also learned about other types of paint, like Acrylic, and Oil, but I still like water color.

My desire is to show in paintings how beautiful and colored life is and can be, at least from my point of view, or perspective. When I paint I learn more about the environment, places, and people, and it often inspires me, and when I do a good job in the painting, I can see how it inspires others. When I was a child I read a lot of Fairy Tales, and like to show the same romantic side in my paintings.

I have a lot of paintings I would like to share, and it may take a while for me to get this well organized, but I think it will be worth it along the way.

Bear with me - it will be a fun ride.

Copyright Lily Serj, and LilysWatercolorPaintings 2008-2011